Roots
by Xekstrin
Summary: The story of Summer Rose and Yang Xiao Long, and how Ruby became the girl she is today. [Trans!Ruby]
1. Seeds

**A/N**_**:** _Please read at 3/4th story width. At the time I wrote this, we knew almost nothing about Ruby or Summer Rose, so as the story progresses some things will turn out to be against canon. Keep that in mind, and I hope you enjoy this story.

**OoOoOo**

_Ten little Huntsmen all in a row  
Send them off and watch them go_

"Hold your fingers up like this, little rose," Summer said with a grin, holding up her own hands to demonstrate. Ruby followed suit, knowing their bedtime routine by heart and eager to play. They pressed their palms together once with a clap, and then held their hands out and open, fingers splayed.

She heard her scroll notifier go off, but didn't pay it any mind. Ever since Summer got the thing it chirped nonstop, updates and messages and downloads constantly appearing on its thin screen. Ruby would watch her pore over it for hours, her eyes scanning news articles and reading, always reading, always searching.

_One, two, three, four  
Lift up their swords and go to war_

They folded over their middle and ring fingers, leaving the index and pinky up. Sometimes Summer would forget the game and turn her thumb in, to make her hand look like a little giraffe. She would tickle Ruby's belly until Ruby laughed so hard, tears flowed.

_Five, six, seven, eight  
Battle dress and heavy plate_

They made two fists now, just their thumbs extended.

_Lastly count nine and ten  
They rise up._  
_They start again._

Ruby always did it wrong. "No no no, Ruby," Summer would say. "You're tucking your thumb in again. That's not how you make a proper fist, you'll break your hand punching someone that way."

Ruby made the correction at once, then gave Summer a bop on the nose. She fell over with an exaggerated yell, clutching her face. "Ohhh! You got me! You got me good!" she said in agony, rolling over on Ruby's bed. That was when her scroll chirped again, and again. Looking up in confusion, Summer pulled Ruby onto her lap, cuddling her younger sibling with plenty of forehead kisses. "Now what could that be, at this time of night," she murmured to herself.

"Is it one of your friends from combat school?" Ruby wanted to know, always excited to hear more about the family tradition. But Summer didn't answer, planting another idle kiss on top of Ruby's bright red head. Without another word she got up, lighting up her scroll and glancing through its notifications.

Her eyes widened.

That was when the door opened wide, so loud it made Ruby jump in fright. It was their father, pale as a sheet. Ruby couldn't help but notice he also held his scroll in one hand, messages lighting in faster than the operating system could keep up. They chirped, and then buzzed when he flicked it into silent mode. And buzzed, and buzzed, and buzzed. "Summer," he said, "Something big just came up. I need you to stay here and watch after Rub—"

She had already pulled her cape off the bedpost, wrapping it over her shoulders as she strode towards the door. "No. I got it too. Even students are being called in."

Sliding off the bed, Ruby looked from one to the other. "What's happening?"

"Huntress stuff," Summer said. "You're big enough to stay here alone for one night, right, Ruby?"

"_You_ are not a Huntress," their father reminded her, putting one hand on her shoulder to keep her still as she made to try and brush past him. "All-call or not, you're staying here. This is bigger than you're capable of dealing with."

Her face immediately twisted into a snarl. "I _am_ capable of dealing with this!" she said. "Not that you can see it."

She took after him— both the Rose children did. Thick black hair, with red accents playing at the shadows. Already familiar lines were beginning to form on Summer's face. The pinched, angry expression caused a similar groove between her eyebrows as the one permanently etched between his. Pulling one hand across his face in a very obvious attempt to keep calm, their father spoke again. "This is not the time for this argument, Summer. You are _fifteen years old_. I'm not risking your life on top of mine. You're staying with Reuben."

"Ruby," Ruby couldn't help but correct him, pulling the blankets off his bed and wrapping them around his shoulders. Half to keep the cold winter night away and half to feel more like Summer. "A reuben is a sandwich."

"Not now, Ruby!" they both snapped at him, except their father said _Reuben_ again. Turning his attention back to Summer, he undid the clasps on her cape. "This isn't a democracy, young lady. You stay here, and you wait for me, and you do as I say until this sudden attitude you've developed—"

She wrenched free from him. "Attitude? Well maybe I'd stop giving _attitude_ if you could be consistent with me!" she said. "You're always saying I'm the best in my class, but you never let me do anything! All the other teachers agree, I should be a year higher at least! What's the point in being special if you keep holding me back?"

"I'm trying to keep you _safe_," he said. "This isn't like the games you play with Ruby. We're not trying to see who's the strongest rose."

Her scroll screamed, furiously flooding with messages. "Look," she said, holding it up for him to see. "We're wasting time!" Standing a little straighter, she regarded him with a thin smile, eyes shining bright with something Ruby couldn't define. "I'm not going to sit here while there's an all-call in the town next over. I'm going. And I'm going to_ show you_ who's the strongest rose."

Before he could do anything else, she activated her semblance, zipping around him and down the hallway. Shouting in fury and concern, he tried to follow before skidding to a halt, torn between his two children. Somewhere further in the house, they heard the main door slam shut. Swearing under his breath, he turned back to Ruby, getting down on both his knees and holding onto his son's shoulders, shaking him lightly to make sure he was paying attention. "Ruby," he said, "You know the rules for staying home alone, right?"

Ruby nodded, uncertainly. "Don't open the door for strangers."

There was a lot more to it than that, but his father made an exception tonight, kissing him roughly on the forehead. "And don't go outside. Be a good boy, okay?"

"Yes, daddy," he said, trying not to hold on too tight to the sudden fear that gripped his heart as his father followed his older sister, and he was left alone.

Normally staying up past his bedtime would have been an exciting opportunity, but all Ruby could do was restlessly pace the halls in his house, touching the familiar markings where their father had cut Summer and Ruby's heights ever since they could stand. It got to the point that the emptiness and silence were almost too much, that he wished he could go to bed. And he tried, lying down under the covers and staring at the ceiling and reciting the nursery rhymes Summer would sing to him every night.

Hours passed, the darkness creeping in. He suddenly remembered the war stories his father told him. All the huntsmen and huntresses who left one day and never made it back. Lying rigid in his bed, Ruby tried to fight an unexpected panic that began to tear through his mind. Finally, when it was no longer night time but very early morning, he heard the door open again.

Shooting from his bed, he raced down the hall to see Summer sitting with her back to the main door, slowly taking off her boots. Shouting her name, he ran into her, landing heavily with his arms wrapped around her neck. She held him back, wordlessly squeezing him tight for reassurance. "Hi little rose," she said, voice cracked and dry.

"Hi big rose," he said back, finishing their long running back-and-forth that they had held since he could remember. "Are you okay? Was it a really big hunt? Where's daddy?"

"Daddy's fine," she said. "I'm fine. He's in the hospital, though."

Terror shot through him again. He gripped her shoulder tight.

"He's _fine_," she said again. Her cheekbones seemed finer than usual, a deep and tangible exhaustion painting purple shadows under her eyes. "He's fine. He just got a little hurt. He told me to go home instead of stay with him. But he's okay. We're gonna see him tomorrow as soon as visiting hours allow." Grabbing Ruby's face, she squished his cheeks, turning his head this way and that. "Don't worry little rose. We're big hunters. We saved lots of people today."

That made Ruby smile, all doubts wiped away like light chasing away the darkness, and the nightmares they held. "How many?"

She opened her mouth to respond, a weak smile on her face. And then it trembled. She cleared her throat. Cleared it again. And then she put the heels of her hands against her eyes, rubbing them furiously. "A lot," she said, voice cracking. "W-we saved a.. a whole bunch, Ruby. All of us working together."

And then she started crying, so suddenly and so furiously he was certain she had gotten injured after all, and just wasn't telling him. But she wouldn't say what was wrong, no matter how much he asked.

It took him a few years to understand that sometimes, it wasn't always a physical injury that could bruise you bad enough to cry.


	2. Dormancy

Summer slept through the rest of the day, and well into the next one. She only awoke a few times to make food for Ruby and promise that as soon as she could, she'd take him to see their father. In the mean time, she let him borrow her scroll, to talk to their dad through it. It relieved his anxiety immensely to hear his father's voice and see that he really was okay, and two days after the Grimm attack, Summer and Ruby took the bus to go and visit him.

Like his oldest child, Ash Rose was a stubborn cuss, never where he ought to be when he was supposed to be there. When they went to his room during visiting hours only to discover he'd wandered off to another part of the hospital, it took them a while to locate him. They found their dad with a crowd of other hunters, all of them haunting the hallways of another ward with the same air of hollow expectation.

His foot wrapped up in a cast, Ash hopped around the others to greet his children as they came running over to him, feet stomping on the tiled floors and causing more noise than was recommended for such a delicate area. "Dad!" Ruby said, throwing himself at his father without thinking. Ash caught him easily in one arm, still managing to keep balance on his crutch.

"Hey buddy," he said, kissing his forehead. A few hunters glanced their way, torn from their private worlds at the commotion the Rose family made. They all looked gaunt, the way Summer had the night she came home. Many of them sported injuries like their father's. "Look what I got! A big white cast for you to draw on."

"Does it hurt?" Ruby needed to know, letting his dad set him down so he could look at it better. Cautious, he touched it lightly— and then retracted it as quick as if he had been burned when Ash yelped in pain. About to apologize, he instead pouted when Ash started laughing at him.

"Gotcha," Ash said, pinching his nose. "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt at all. You can touch the cast all you want."

Bringing attention to herself, Summer cleared her throat. "Hi, dad."

His eyes scanned her up and down, smile dropping a few molars. "Summer," he said. She avoided his gaze, eyes down. Hopping over to her, he gestured for her to come closer; she did, and he pulled her into a one armed hug, holding her head against his chest. "You fought like a champion the other day," he said, kissing the top of her head. "I'm so proud."

"_Dad_," Ruby said, interrupting. "We had to walk all over the hospital looking for you. You're supposed to be resting. Summer told me a Grimm almost took off your leg!"

"I'm sorry," he said, genuinely sounding so. Still holding onto Summer, he rested against her slightly as she squeezed her arms around him, still quiet. Gesturing at the sign above the door they hovered around, he asked Ruby, "Do you know what that sign says?"

Ruby studied it carefully. "Eyekoo?" he hazarded. Another huntress, leaning against the wall further down the hallway, heard him and laughed, shortly. Burning up at the realization that he'd made a mistake, Ruby glared down at his shoes, trying not to say anything else that would get any attention.

His dad didn't seem to notice or care, just correcting him without judgement. "It's just the letters. ICU. They stand for Intensive Care Unit. It's where they take care of people who are very sick, and need extra attention." Letting go of Summer after giving her one last crushing hug, he guided Ruby over to the big double doors. There was a small aperture between them, too high up for him to see until Ash hoisted him up. He could see the corners of a few beds— maybe six, or eight. All of them were full, silent. No movement or activity could be seen from within, except for the occasional nurse making rounds. "This is where they're taking care of the people who we managed to get out of that town the other night," he said, quietly. "We're standing vigil."

Sudden excitement thrilled within him. He knew what that word meant for sure. "So you're like, being their guard," he said, pleased with himself.

"That's right. It's exactly like being a guard."

Ruby puffed out his chest, looking over his shoulder to see if Summer was paying attention. She wasn't, but when Ruby saw why, he couldn't blame her.

A cat had walked into their midst, plumed tail held high like a banner. He looked to be a long-haired breed, with creamy white coloration and dark tan ears. Sitting in front of the doorway to the ICU, he looked up at it with wide amber eyes, waiting for something. Crouching next to it, Summer extended a hand to see it it would bite. His ears didn't flatten and he didn't flinch away, so she tried petting him. He reacted like most cats would, rubbing his cheeks roughly on her palm, but he didn't move from his spot.

"There he goes again," their dad said. "That weird stray was here yesterday, too."

Still scratching him under his chin, Summer felt a collar underneath his thick fur. Her lips twisted when she found his name tag, certain it was some kind of sick joke.

GRIMM — OFFICIAL HOSPITAL CAT

"He's not stray, Daddy, he's… got a tag," she said, sounding repulsed. But other than his terrible name, Grimm seemed to be a very laid-back cat, accepting her hands on him without even a meow of protest. "It says he's the 'official hospital cat'. Whatever that means."

One did not simply see a friendly cat and refuse to pet it. Ruby had also crouched down next to her, offering the cat a hand to sniff. He butted his head against Ruby's hand in response, chest rumbling as Summer started scratching behind his ears. "Aww, what a sweetie. Listen, he's purring!"

"Why does a hospital have a cat?" Summer wondered even as she stroked him. She'd heard of people sometimes bringing dogs to visit very sick patients, but not cats. And she didn't think they generally had free reign to wander wherever they pleased.

"Why wouldn't a hospital have a cat?" someone new ventured. Looking up to see who had come to stand over them, Ruby turned an excellent shade of scarlet. Nudging Summer hard in the ribs to get her attention, he could only gape at the newcomer.

The Huntsman stood tall and straight, brown eyed, with white streaks threading through his thick black hair though he didn't look much older than Ash. He walked with a certain kind of dangerous ease, despite the gimp in his leg, and the heavy way he leaned on his cane. It was his aura, his presence, that declared him a Huntsman more than anything else.

"Hello," he said down to them before also getting on their level to pet the cat. Ruby tried to look everywhere but at him, already turning several shades darker. If it kept up, he'd be purple by the end of the hour. "I see you've met Grimm. He's an important member of the staff here."

Still red as a beet, Ruby didn't wait for the rest. Quickly excusing himself, he scuttled down the hallway and round his father, hiding behind his legs. "Ruby, don't be rude," Ash mumbled to him. "Introduce yourself."

Ruby didn't respond, just shaking his head violently. He couldn't. He just couldn't talk to him.

That was Professor Ozpin. _The_ Ozpin. Headmaster of Beacon Academy, the greatest hunting school in Remnant.

You don't just _talk_ to Professor Ozpin.

But that was exactly what Summer did, standing up straight to offer him her hand. He took it, shaking it brief and curt. "Hello, sir," she said. "Ignore Ruby, he's shy. I'm Summer Rose, I don't think we've met outside of the field." The other huntsmen and huntresses also came in to shake his hand, some of them already his acquaintance, others introducing themselves as Summer had. Everyone who was anyone knew of the Headmaster of Beacon. He regularly churned out some of the greatest Huntsmen and Huntresses of the past decade. People waged academic war for the chance to be admitted there.

As the men and women started up conversation about— what else, hunting— Grimm sat, unperturbed by the people stepping around him. He waited in front of the door like a little Huntsman himself, Ruby realized. Standing vigil. He seemed like a part of the hospital itself, his pale white fur blending in with the stark walls and tiled floors.

When visiting hours started, a nurse opened the door to let them in. Grimm zipped past him, giving his legs a friendly rub before trotting into the ICU with his maned tail straight and proud. "There's only one visitor allowed per patient," he said to the huntsmen and huntresses gathered there. "Family members take precedence."

"There won't be any," Summer said. "Anyone who made it out of that town alive is either a hunter, or in that room."

Nobody really had anything else to add to that. Ruby tried to look past the nurse, to see inside. How many people were in that room? It didn't look much larger than the other wards.

People who treated Grimm victims and the huntsmen who brought them in had a special relationship, an understanding that civilians couldn't tune into. All Ruby could tell was that the nurse seemed exhausted— it painted his every move. "Well." The nurse took a short breath, sounding pained. "Then I guess eight of you can come inside."

Eight.

Ruby suddenly felt very cold.

"Were all of you at the all-call last night?" the nurse wanted to know as eight hunters shuffled inside to pay their respects to the people they had tried to save.

"Yes," Ozpin answered. "There were multiple sectors under attack, but one got hit harder than the rest. Every hunter here was in that town. The town we lost." He paused. "…We also lost no small number of our own."

"I haven't seen a swarm like that in years," Ruby's father agreed. "Not since before my children were born."

"Even this one?" Ozpin asked, nodding his head over to Summer. Ash confirmed; even that one. Turning his attention to Summer now, Ozpin leaned lighter on his cane at the sight of her. "I saw you on the field last night, Miss Rose. The fencer in the white cape." He smiled faintly. "You were a sight to behold."

This wasn't news to Summer. She was top of her class, a tournament champion. She fielded the compliment with the same grace she usually did— that is to say, with no grace at all. "That's because I'm the best fencer in Vale," she said. For the first time since that night she came home from the all-call, Ruby saw the spark of rebellion return to her eyes. The careless, twisted, arrogant grin.

The nurse frowned. "You seem awfully young to be a Huntress, if you don't mind me saying."

She put on hand on her hip, tossing her hair with a careless flick of her head. "That's cause I'm not a Huntress! Not yet, anyway. I'm still in combat school. But I'm on the list for all-calls, just like the upperclassmen getting ready to transfer."

Ash's lips pressed together, thin and tight to keep from saying anything too quick. "Summer is very talented, just like her mother was." Giving her a stern look, he added, "Though she doesn't seem to understand that it's rude to proclaim to be the best fencer in Vale while standing in front of the _actual_ best fencer in Vale." He pointed his chin over at Ozpin, who quietly protested his greatness.

Her eyebrows quirked up at that news; then, realizing who Ash meant by the comment, she gave Ozpin another up-and-down, regarding him with narrowed eyes and her father's tight smile. "I wasn't being rude. I was just saying what I think is true. Professor Ozpin, do _you_ think it's rude of me to say I'm better than you?"

"Presumptuous might be the word I'd use, Summer Rose," Ozpin said easily. If Summer ruffled him at all, he didn't show it. "If you were a little older, I might even say 'arrogant'."

"I can live with arrogant."

Ears turning pink, Ash opened his mouth to say something when the nurse stepped aside to let one of the visiting Huntsmen out of the ICU. Seeing her chance, Summer darted inside to take their place.

Uncomfortable in his skin, Ash just said, "I'm sorry, Professor. She's… she's very… she's a handful, sometimes," he finished lamely, one hand reaching behind him to ruffle Ruby's hair. Ruby, for his part, still clung to Ash and refused to make eye contact with Ozpin.

"I'm sure she is." Ozpin's thumb rolled over the tip of his cane. Ruby saw that while the rest of it shone from regular polish and care, the spot where Ozpin's thumb stroked was dull from the repetitive motion, worn down by the idle habit. "I'm sure she is."


End file.
